Offering Trust
by Kare Uta
Summary: After months of going over his own feelings, Bryan finally makes the daunting decision of trusting someone different to him; his new best friend. All that's needed is one act that symbolizes the giving up of his trust. Bryan/OC. Oneshot.


_**Offering Trust**_

The two of them went in circles for months. Tatiana wasn't a bossy girl, and she was in no hurry or anything of the sort. Bryan mostly tended to misunderstand any feelings he ever had, choosing to analyze _these_ feelings in particular meticulously.

He listened to her intently as they walked down the long streets, the look on his face still passive. He nodded and hummed quietly as she spoke fast paced as always. After a while he had grown a little unaware of the actual conversation; he was surely listening but not entirely sure what she was on about this time. The last thing he remembered she was going on about was how much clothing she bought in one day. He was holding the majority of her bags and the strain and the marks that the bags were working into his hands and fingers was a very good reminder of just how much she'd bought.

She caught onto his arm hurriedly, smiling meekly, "I'm sorry, I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

He pulled her arm to entwine with his a bit, something she was glad to do, smirking and whispering in her ear, "Sort of."

"I'm sorry…"

"It's okay. Just continue."

She shook her head hurriedly, "No, I want to hear about _you_ now." The first day they met she had been fooled. She began talking, he insisted she continue with her ramblings and she had done so. It was only weeks later, after discovering little details about his hidden childhood that only then did she realize that he only insisted she speak to avoid having to talk about himself. Since then she's known better and tried her hardest not to overdo it with conversation.

"There isn't anything to hear." Bryan insisted as he did every time.

Tatiana pouted, pulling out of his hold and crossing her arms, "So a ton of people get to know about you and _I_ don't?"

"My friends aren't 'a ton of people'."

"And now _I'm_ not a friend?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

He huffed, rolling his eyes at her little mind games. They stood on the sheltered platform of the train station, stepping inside as the snow started coming down hard. The whole place was abandoned so they just took a seat not far from the entrance. Bryan flexed his fingers once he was finally able to let go of the bags and Tatiana curled up further in her thick jacket.

"So?" She asked, "Am I not a friend?"

"You're a very close friend. A very close friend who doesn't need to know about what went on in that place."

The girl smiled softly, sitting back, "So, what? You're keeping it from me to protect me?"

"Something like that." Bryan mumbled to himself, turning around in his seat and looking out the window for the train.

She laughed and leaned closer to him, resting her head against his muscular shoulder, "What exactly is it that you're protecting me from?"

"Nightmares?" Bryan tried, unsure.

Her quiet laugh made him smile a little; the sound of her laughter always had that affect on him, "That's not it. I'm sure."

"Then if you think you know then use it to answer your own question."

She held onto him tighter, tugging his arm closer and lacing her fingers through his, "Are you scared that…maybe I'll see you differently?" the look on his face didn't change with her words but she was sure that she had struck a nerve in him anyway. She smiled softly, picking up his hand and kissing his knuckles. "I care about you because of the person you are now, my opinion of you won't change just because I know what happened to you when you were a kid."

He glanced at her, though she didn't look up at him. He was still wary of her, despite their closeness, "Do I need to tell you now?"

"Of course not. But tiny details about you once in a while would be really nice."

Bryan smirked, resting his head against hers lightly, "I hate shopping." He murmured.

He made the girl laugh, still finding it funny that anything he said caused that sort of reaction. "I think you only hate it because I've tainted the joys of it with my ramblings."

"That's not it." He held her close, resting his chin on her shoulder as he rocked her slightly. "I mean…we're going to be stuck here for a few hours thanks to the snow…" He smiled, kissing the top of her head lightly, "Did you really need those last three stores?"

"Hey, I got lots of nice things from those last three stores."

"So if you got so much from them, couldn't you have sped it up a little in the first five stores where you didn't get anything?" He smiled softly as she pouted playfully at his words.

"Well that's not fair you know; it's not my fault I love to shop."

He turned back around, sliding down in the seat and resting his head back, "Not your fault." She smiled and scooted closer to him, curling up inside his own jacket, leaning against his chest. He smiled; there was some reassurance in this action, it meant that he didn't scare her off in anyway. He slowly contemplated his next move. The amount of time she spent curling up in his side equaled the amount of time he spent trying to convince himself that she was alright. Finally, he wrapped an arm around her, holding her closer and tugging the end of his jacket around her a little more so that she could keep warm.

She buried her face in his firm stomach, smiling and inhaling his scent that had worked wonderfully into his clothing. "You're so warm." She whispered, wrapping her arms around his waist.

He ran his fingers through her long brown hair, tickling the back of her neck soothingly, "I'm not warm. You're just really cold."

She looked up hurriedly, seeming alarmed, "Am I making you cold?"

Bryan laughed, pulling his arm around her even tighter, holding her closer than he already had been, "I don't get cold that easily." he reminded her. The two sat in silence again. It was getting late; almost ten thirty and there was no sound of the train approaching any time soon. The silence got even more awkward as time passed. It wasn't a real awkward silence though, it just had the feeling that despite their exhaustion and their own personal thoughts something still needed to be said.

The Russian male knew well-enough that it was him that had to say something next. She had waited for him to talk for long enough. Nine months and three weeks to be exact. That was a long time to leave her waiting anxiously.

"If I talk to you," he started in a whisper, part of him hoping that she had fallen asleep, "I think that you'll grow to be scared."

No such luck. "I'm already scared."

"I told you; you'll end up being scared of me sometime or another." he'd let go of her almost instantly at her words, sure that if she was scared that he didn't need to be touching her to add to that fear. By letting him stay so close, he assumed she was just being polite.

She sat up almost instantly again, looking almost horrified but mostly saddened by his most recent and absurd statement. "I'm not scared _of_ you," tears sparkled in her eyes, breath hitching ever so slightly, "I'm scared _for_ you."

Bryan blinked, biting back the urge to reach forward and wipe those tears away from her young pretty face, "Why?" He misunderstood it all. It took all this time to grow feelings for her and now he still wasn't able to understand half the things she said.

"Because I'm scared I'll lose you!" She exclaimed tearfully. "I care about you but I'm scared that I'll lose you. I think that, what if what you're keeping to yourself comes after you? And hurts you again? Or worse, kills you. What then? Or what if it gets too much for you and you end up hurting yourself? I'd be...distraught if you got hurt or something worse happened to you."

He suddenly lost all thoughts. He was rendered utterly speechless by her entire revelation of concerns for him. What was he really meant to say? Somewhere inside of him he was more than relieved, a part of himself really wanted someone to care about him. He just didn't expect that someone to be her, so soon and for her to be so...emotive about it. He'd never called Tatiana a guarded character but she was never one to spill those sorts of emotions out like that.

"I know, I look like an idiot right now." She smirked, wiping her tears off her pale freckled cheeks. She shied away, sitting back in her own seat, drawing her legs up to herself and holding them tightly, remaining tense until a strong arm wrapped across her shoulders again and soft lips lightly grazed her temple.

"You probably are an idiot." He affirmed, feeling her trying to pull him closer again, "I've been told anyone who cares about me that much _is_ an idiot."

Tatiana smiled, bright brown eyes shining, "I'm sure your friends already care about you more than I do."

"But I've already been told that they're idiots." Bryan reminded her almost half-heartedly. If there was something that Boris had repeated one too many times, it was how stupid the lot of them were for ever caring about each other.

She laughed at the humor in his tone, smiling up at him sweetly as she clutched his hand in both of hers, "Is it really that unbelievable that someone cares about you so much?" He nodded convincingly; too quickly for her liking too. She sat up on her knees in her seat, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around his neck tightly, "I'm _never_ going to be scared of you!"

He couldn't help but smile at the thought of it, turning to her and hugging her back, aiming at sensitivity as he did whenever he touched her. While the insistence in her statement should have taken away all his worries, he still couldn't help but not grasp what she was saying. He considered that she couldn't have been more firm in her statement but there still was that irritating and dwindling concern in his mind. "How are you so sure?"

"Because when I formulate an opinion of someone it's of how they are _now_, how they treat people _now. _You wouldn't be this amazing person today if you didn't go through whatever it is you went through. I care about you and adore you for the person that you are right now, how you got to this point doesn't matter. What happened to you in the past isn't going to scare me off. Ever."

And there it was. The last thing. Everything he ever needed to hear to be sure his feelings for her were true. She cared about him, he could always see that but now everything was said, all he ever wanted to hear her say and she'd finally said it all. It sounded cruel of him to think that way; to let her spill out all her feelings for him while he kept all his feelings for her bottled up inside. On the other hand, he found that it was the only way to make sure that she didn't hurt him, that she didn't laugh at him or anything when he chose to return the feelings.

While wanting to remain in that embrace for as long as their time together permit it, Bryan pulled away slowly and almost unwillingly, startling the girl into thinking she'd said something upsetting. The look on his face reflected one of anxiety as he slowly pulled something out of his pocket, confusing her further. Opening his hand, keeping it to himself, a thick chain with a nicely decorated padlock hung on the end. The padlock was a regular large size, maybe two centimeters, made of silver and with a pale white floral pattern on it. After he'd unlocked it with the key he shied closer to her, making things easier on him she moved closer once she noticed the hesitance. He placed the long chain around her neck, holding it in the front, placing the locking bolt through the last notch of the chain and hesitating in closing it.

He knew well-enough what shutting it would mean. He was giving her everything. His care, his love, his attention but most importantly, and most difficultly, his trust. The seconds just dragged on painfully slow as he made certain with himself that this was what he wanted. He didn't think he'd need more assuring with himself but it turned out that he did. Due to years in the Abbey, trust was not something you ever gave to anyone quite so easily. Actually, if you could avoid it, you don't give your trust to anyone at all. Even after hearing her words, even after knowing everything she felt for him, even then he needed to tell himself, repeat to himself that it'd bbe okay if he trust someone for once in his life. The pressure of what she thought about his seeming distrust began sinking in and finally, firmly and full of confidence in his decision, he shut the lock.

He glanced up at her, hoping she'd say something rather than remain silent and make him feel even more out of his element than he already really was. She was leaning dramatically closer, making his breathing shorten excessively. Her soft plump lips brushed against his, tickling them gently and sending the shiver through him, one hand tugging lightly on his jacket to keep him close while the other picked up his hand and placed it over the newly placed lock. He leaned forward too, pressing his own lips further against hers, adding to the chaste passion. His first kiss. His first act of totally giving up his trust.

_**A/N: I gave Tala some love this past week so I thought that Bryan deserved another oneshot with some love of his own. Also, last week I watched the movie NANA like six times so the padlock scene was inspired by that, not to mention I have a similar one and I thought the symbolism suited Bryan and his great amount of distrust. **_

_**Also, for those of you who had by any chance read People Error; this is Bryan's girlfriend that he had in that fic, the one that passed away before he visited Kai in Japan. In case anyone was curious, this was the start of their relationship that fit into that storyline. So speaking of which, evaluating Bryan's girlfriend's character, you could see similarities between her and Tori; the reason he trusted her and the reason he was almost sure about Kai and Tori's relationship and how it'd continue. **_

_**Soo! I hope some people liked this. Lately I've been in a Tala/OC, Bryan/OC and Bryan/Tala mood so most of oneshots have been themed that way lately. Have patience! Anyway, I hope you're enjoying some of my work, please keep safe everyone and if you have the chance please take the time to leave a review. **_


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